17. How much is spent per IVET student?

Public expenditure on initial vocational education and training (IVET) provides an indication of the scale of investments in IVET made by the State.

Considering this investment over time also signals the extent to which the size of investments has been maintained.

The indicator below is defined as public expenditure on vocational education at ISCED 3-4 per student enrolled. It is expressed in thousands of purchasing parity standard (PPS) units ([1]).

EU averages are estimated as weighted averages of available country figures. Enrolments in IVET are used for weighting.

Figure 17: IVET public expenditure per student (1000 PPS units)

Source: Eurostat, UOE data collection on education.

Key points

Based on available country data, it was estimated that in the EU on average 8400 PPS units were spent per student in 2014. There is a substantial variation in public expenditure across the EU, from more than 12000 PPS units (Luxembourg and Cyprus) to less than 4000 PPS units (Malta, Bulgaria, and Romania). Data for non-EU countries are available for Norway (12100 PPS units), Iceland (9100 PPS units), and Turkey (3000 PPS units).

Table 17: IVET public expenditure per student (1000 PPS units)

Arrows ↗ or ↘ signal a positive or negative trend based on more than two data points and of magnitude 0.1 per year or more. Trends based on more than two data points but of smaller magnitude are indicated by →; trends based on two points only are marked ▪. Trends are estimated by means of regression models.
The EU28 values are based on 21 countries (missing: DK, IE, EL, FR, HR, IT, PT).
(F) ISCED 2 vocational is included in ISCED 3 vocational. (b) Break after 2010. Therefore baseline data not included. (u) Eurostat: "low reliability". (z) Eurostat: "not applicable". (e) Eurostat: "estimated".